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0267 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 267 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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( 183 )

M.V. established himself in the palace with the title of Syad Jabingir Sultan, and at once organized his government on the Khokand model, substituting the Musalman turban for the Chinese cap, balls, and feathers. He allowed most of the Begs to retain their posts, but appointed Andijan partizans to the principal offices, and executed Muhammad Said of Khamil, the Wang= Governor on the part of the Chinese, for his opposition.

On the fall of Kashghar, the people of Yangi Hissar, Yarkand, and Khutan rose simultaneously, and massacring the Chinese everywhere, razed their forts and joined the service of the Khoja. In June Muhammad Ali Khan, jealous of the Khoja's success, himself appeared at Kashghar with fifteen thousand men to join in the ghazû, but he was coldly received by Jahangi r, who looked upon him as a dangerous rival. The Khan, however, set vigorously to work to take the Chinese fort of Gulbigh, a few hundred yards to the west of the city, in which the garrison still held out ; but his efforts proving ineffectual, and having lost a thousand men under its walls in twelve days, his ardour cooled as rapidly as it had glowed, and he returned to his principality there to make amends for the disappointment in adding a new province to his dominions by stamping the envied title of Ghcfzi on his coinage.

Jahangir meantime continued the siege of the Gulbagh, and it fell to him on the seventeenth day. The Chinese Governor and principal officers committed suicide, whilst their troops fleeing in all directions were captured and massacred to the number of eight thousand men. Only four hundred of the captives were spared on their professing Islam, and they were at once distributed over Mi waranahar as an inducement to the Faithful to rally round Jahangir. •

Muhammad Ali Khan now uneasy at the growing success of the Khoja, discouraged volunteers and plotted with Isa DcIdkhwczh to raise a mutiny amongst his troops. The General's plans, however, were timely discovered, and he was reduced from his post of Mingbcfsh% and the disorder quelled. Many other plots against Jahi.ngir now came to light, but he was generally popular and had the support of the Musalmins everywhere.

P.      Meanwhile the Chinese Viceroy at Ila had been active in his preparations to
recover the revolted cities, and despatched an immense force of Tungani, Khitây, and Kalmak against the rebels. The Chinese army arrived at Aksi in January (six months after the fall of Kashghar), under the command of a 'Ting Jing Tin, with a Jang Jing and several Amban. From this in the early spring a force of twelve thousand men was sent by way of Ciy Yoli to Khutan, and another of seven thousand men to Yarkand, whilst the main army of eighty thousand men assembling at Maralbashi set out thence against Kashghar. Jahangir in the meantime had concentrated his Khutan and Yirkand levies at the capital, and on the approach of the Chinese sent out an army of fifty thousand men to oppose them.

The hostile armies met at Yangabad, and according to custom each put forward a champion for single combat. That of the Chinese was a giant Kalmi,k archer fantastically dressed like a devil dragon ; whilst the champion on the side of Jahingir was a noted Khokandi warrior equally versed in sword and rifle practice and clad in gaudy silks and chain armour. The two advanced to the contest on the open plain backed by their respective supporters. But whilst the Khokandi was adjusting his rifle the Kalmak shot an arrow through his chest and out between the shoulders, and his adversary fell dead on the spot. A skirmish followed between the supporting parties, but the Kâshghar army, disheartened by the untoward commencement of the contest, soon broke and fled in disorder. They were pursued with great slaughter and loss in captives as far as Cazan Kul, where the Chinese army camped for the night.

Next day they advanced in three great divisions by the Yangi Hissar road on the south, Daulatbagh on the east, and Sarman on the west, and invested the city on three sides. During the night Jahângir with seven followers fled by the Chacmac Pass to the Karatakka mountain, where he was stopped by the snow, and

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